Apparatus for faoilitatina walking



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N. YAGN. APPARATUS FOR PAGILITATING WALKING, RUNNING, AND JUMPING.

No. 438,830.. Patented Oct. 21, 1890.

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- APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING WALKING, RUNNING, ANDJUMPING.

N0. 438,830. Patented'oot. 21, 1890.

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.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS YAGN, OF ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA.

APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING WALKING, RUNNING, AND .IUMPING- SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 438,830, dated October 21, 1890.

Application filed February 11, 1890- Serial No. 340,021. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS YAGN, mechanical engineer, a subject of theEmperor of Russia, and residing at St. Petersburg, Russia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for FacilitatingWalking, Running, and Jumping; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification, and in which Figure 1 is aside elevation of an apparatusembodying my invention, and Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a rearelevation and top plan view thereof. Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig.1, illustrating the apparatus in its position when the weight of thebody is thrown upon it. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show in side elevation and topand bottom plan views, respectively, a modified form ofpower-accumulator.

The invention relates to apparatus for facilitating walking, running,and jumping, and has for its object certain improvements on similarapparatus for which I have obtained Letters Patent of the United Statesof America, dated July 2, 1889, No. 406,328; January 28, 1890, Nos.420,178 and 420,179, respectively. In the apparatus described in theaforesaid patents the ois moo. of the dead weight of the human body ortrunk in walking, running, or jumping is taken up and multiplied bysprings, so arranged that the power thereof will be exerted either atthe seat, or at the waist, or under the arms.

The present invention has for its ob ect to provide means whereby notonly the ms coca, resulting from the act of walking, running, or jumpingis utilized, but also the weight of the body itself, so that at eachdisplacement of the legs the power exerted by the weight of the body,plus the 'vis owa, is made available for propulsion.

To these ends the invent-ion consists in an apparatus composed,essentially, of a power accumulating or multiplying device adapted totake up, multiply, and store the power developed by the weight of thebody, and in addition thereto the m's m'ca developed in the act ofwalking, running, or jumping.

The invention further consists in details of construction andcombinations of parts, as will now be fully described, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

The power accumulating and storing appa-. ratus comprises a shoe S,provided with ballsocket bearings s for the ball-bearings r of twovertical rods R, whose upper ends pass through guide-sleeves b, securedto a strap or belt adapted to be buckled to the legs below the knees B.To each rod R is secured a cross head or tree 0, to which is hooked orotherwise connected one end of a number of The slipper S is providedwith a cross-bar s,

at each end of which is formed a guide-eye 8 Fig. 3, for the passage ofthe rods R, so as to allow of free vertical movement of the slipperalong said rods. the slipper S by means of straps or chains 0, that arepreferably made in two-parts adj ustably connected together, as bybuckle in the case of straps or a pin in the case of chains, and serveto limit the upward motion of the slipper along the rods R.

It is obvious that if a person steps into the slippers S after passingthe rods R through the tubular guides 11 of straps or belts B B,buckling the belt around the legs below the knees and strapping theslippers to the feet, the apparatus will be securely held in positionand the springs S distended under the weight of the body, as shown inFig. 4. The moment one of the accumulators is relieved of the weight ofthe body in the act of walking, running, or jumping, the power stored bythe springs S will be given up and the leg not then supporting theweight of the body will be lifted by said stored power. As the footagain comes to the ground the weight of the The shoe S is connected withIOO body, as well as the additional power due to the impulse or momentumof the body is thrown upon the springs, taken up thereby, and againgiven up when the foot is lifted for the next step. It will be readilyseen that the fatigue inherent to the exercise of walking, running, orjumping is greatly reduced thereby, enabling a person to walk, run, orjump for a much longer time than would otherwise be the case, and inrunning or jumping cover more space than is the case without theapparatus.

In Figs. 5 to 7 I have shown a modified form of power-accumulator, theslipper being here provided with a volute spring 3 on each side, whosearms 5 are connected to a heelplate S It is obvious that in walking,running, or jumping the spring will not only take up the weight of thebody, but also the power due to the momentum of the body while inmotion.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-

1. In an apparatus for facilitating walking, running, and jumping, apower-accumulator comprising a stilt, a foot-step, and a resilientsupport for said foot-step, substantially as and for the purposesspecified.

2. In an apparatus for facilitating walking, running, and jumping, apower-accumulator comprising a stilt, a foot-step, a resilient supportfor said foot-step, and a guide to guide the foot-step along the stiltwhen displaced under the resilient action of its support, substantiallyas and for the purposes specified.

3. An apparatus for facilitating walking, running, or jumping, apower-accumulator consisting of a shoe and a slipper, guide-rodspivotallyconnected with the shoe and on which guide-rods the slipper isfree to move vertically, a cross bar or tree for and rigidly connectedwith each of the guide-rods, and helical springs connected with thecross-trees and the slipper, in combination with a belt provided withtubular guides for the upper end of the guide-rods, substantially as andfor the purposes specified.

4. An apparatus for facilitating walking, running, or jumping, thepower-accumulator consisting of a shoe anda slipper, a guide-eye on eachside of said slipper, guide-rods connected with the shoe by a universaljoint, said rods passing through the eyes on the slipper, a cross-treefor and rigidly connected with each of the guide-rods, and helicalsprings connected with the cross-trees and the slipper, in combinationwith abelt provided with tubular guide-sleeves for the upper end of theguide-rods, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. An apparatus for facilitating walking, running, or jumping, thepower-accumulator consisting of a shoe and a slipper, said slipperhaving a guide-eye on each side and a flexible connection between theshoe and slipper,guide-rods connected with the shoe by a universaljoint, said rods passing through the eyes on the slipper, a cross-treefor and rigidly connected with each of the guide-rods, and helicalsprings connected with the cross-trees and the slipper, in combinationwith a belt provided with tubular guidesleeves for the upper end of theguide-rods, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

NICHOLAS YAGN.

Witnesses:

N. TSOHEKALOFF, J. BLAU.

